Editorial: Massachusetts should put fine on texting while driving

Monday

Dec 28, 2009 at 12:01 AMDec 28, 2009 at 4:22 PM

There may still be some debate over how dangerous it is to drive while speaking on a cell phone, but texting while driving is a no-brainer. Nobody can read a screen and key in a message without posing an unacceptable risk to other drivers and themselves.

There may still be some debate over how dangerous it is to drive while speaking on a cell phone, but texting while driving is a no-brainer. Nobody can read a screen and key in a message without posing an unacceptable risk to other drivers and themselves.

One would think this is so obvious that no one would try it, but one would be wrong. For growing numbers of people, cell phones have become virtual sixth fingers, permanently attached to their hands. For some, texting is like breathing, the signal of an incoming message an irresistible siren's call. They cannot help but respond.

That's why it's time to write common sense into law. When the new year arrives Friday, New Hampshire, Illinois and Oregon will join more than a dozen other states that have written common sense into law by prohibiting texting while driving. Massachusetts should join them.

Boston is trying to lead the state on this front. The Boston City Council unanimously approved a citywide ban on texting while driving earlier this month. Its law would make texting while driving a primary offense, meaning a police officer could pull a motorist over and issue a ticket without some other offense being committed. Drivers would face a $100 fine for the first offense, $200 for the second and $300 for a third violation.

The ordinance is a home-rule petition, meaning the state Legislature must approve it. But the point isn't to make Boston an island with its own traffic laws, city officials say, but to build momentum for a statewide ban. Laws like this depend on public awareness, and that comes from letting people know texting while driving is prohibited everywhere in Massachusetts.

Members of the Legislature have proposed such a law, and House Speaker Robert DeLeo said in October he expected to get an "impaired driving" bill through the House by the end of the year. Like the rest of DeLeo's fall agenda, it never happened.

A recent University of Utah study found that texting while driving can be as much as six times more dangerous than talking on a cell phone while driving. A trillion text messages were sent last year, so this is a danger that will only grow.

When the new year arrives Friday, New Hampshire, Illinois and Oregon will join more than a dozen other states that have written common sense into law by prohibiting texting while driving. That Massachusetts should join them is a no-brainer.